Weiv at CGDC to Enable Worship Using Videogames

Popular Christian Band BarlowGirl will Feature Weiv’s “Interactive Visual Music”


June 30, 2011 - A worship set for BarlowGirl, an all-female Christian rock band, will include Weiv’s interactive visuals during the 2011 Christian Game Developers Conference, enabling a way to worship that uses videogame technology. The conference, dedicated to preparing Christians for success in the games industry, is being held July 7-9 at George Fox University in Newberg, OR, and is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year.

Weiv (http://weiv.co), a software platform that makes live visuals interactive, encourages up to seven people at a time to act as a visual band that plays to the music. Different scenes or animated backgrounds can be projected onto a screen and then controlled by Wii remotes, allowing the users to make the visuals unique based on their own movement.  The idea sprouted by pairing videogame technology with live music, giving others an opportunity to interact and engage with live visuals.

“The idea of going to a concert or worship service just to listen to pre-recorded music seems silly. Why would you do the same for visuals at a live event?” says Josh Larson, founder of Weiv. “Instead, we want to enable a visual band that can perform live to the music. We’re exploring new uses of videogame technology, including a new way to worship, so it’s a perfect fit for the Christian Game Developers Conference.”

Weiv was created so that anyone with a controller--from someone in the sound booth to someone in the audience--can create visuals that correspond with the music. No console is needed; the Wii Remotes connect to the Weiv software running on a Mac computer. Weiv’s interactive visual music has been used for church worship services, youth groups, rock concerts, conferences and other special events.